I say yuck not because I don't like meatloaf, but because I don't like making meatloaf. I hate having to touch raw meat with my hands (second only to touching mayonnaise -- disgusting). I started the whole process and as I got to molding the disgusting pile of hopefully soon-to-be-not-so-disgusting dinner, I remembered a key ingredient that I didn't have -- brown sugar.
Southern ladies know you can't very well make a meatloaf without brown sugar. You have to have that sweetness come in somehow and nothing does it like brown sugar. Well, once I realized I didn't have any in the pantry, I dang near wanted to kick the stove and make turkey sandwiches instead. I am not one to half-butt a meal. If I don't think it's going to turn out just so, I'll change my entire game plan. My reputation in the kitchen that I have with my husband is pretty important to me and there is nothing I hate more than when a meal bites.
Just as I was beginning the draft of what could take the place of the surely to fail meatloaf, I remembered an old trick my mama used to do when she would make meatloaf. She had her fallback method, one that I will not share because you might not ever eat my meatloaf if you knew, and I am fairly sure my husband will read this at some point and I have a strict "Don't ask, don't tell" policy with him when it comes to how I cook. Picky little thing, he is.
Anyway, this old trick came screeching into the forefront of my mind at lightning speed and VOILA, just like that - an old memory saved the day.
It got me thinking about how much I have learned from my mom, even when I didn't realize I was learning from her. It got me thinking about my mama altogether.
I am my mother made over and I realize this more and more every single day. I'll say something or do something so quirky that I instantly recognize a bit of herself in me. Used to, I'd roll my eyes and laugh it off, but more and more I find myself truly pleased that I am becoming my mother.
My mother is fantastic. She is funny, bright, contagiously energetic, and a very quirky. I've never known anyone who didn't like her -- and I've known a lot of cranky people. When I was in high school, all my friends and others in my youth group would gladly and willingly come hang out at our house just to see what antics she'd put us up to (ask me about the time she almost got me arrested for driving without a license while she shot fireworks out the window). She's always been the type of person that people truly enjoy being around and I've always loved that about her.
And.... I don't know, I guess something as simple as meatloaf can remind you sometimes of how lucky your life can be when you have people as exceptionally wonderful as my mom around.
I can only hope that perhaps 30 years down the road when my daughter is making dinner, some trick or tip she caught from me brings me to the forefront of her mind and she'll know how very much I love and adore her. Just as much as my Mama loves me.
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....And Dad, you'll have your due post some day soon. ;)
